29 January 2017–Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
When I
reflected on today's readings, which at first glance could make us
think they're about us and them, rich and poor. They are not.
Rather they are about transformation. We all have of one foot in the
camp of the proud and the other in the camp of the humble. Think of
the first reading as a metaphor for God's honing us so that the
humble part of us grows and the proud part diminishes. It is our
response to misfortune as well as our response to good fortune that
determines our character. The humility of which Zephaniah speaks, it
not self-debasement or docility. Rather it is simply acknowledging
the truth about ourselves and our dependence on God and our
interconnectedness to all of creation. The righteousness of which
Zephaniah speaks is not scrupulosity or piety. The Greek and Hebrew
words, usually translated as “righteousness” would be more aptly
translated as: equity, fairness, justice or, justness. “Seek
humility, seek righteousness” means seek truth and justice. Will
we act on it?
In the
second reading, Paul tells us “God chose what is low and despised
in this world.” Right now, the low and despised are refugees,
especially Syrian refugees. Corporate interests have designated
animal habitat, Indigenous lives and livelihoods—and—even the
well-being of the Earth itself, as expendable. God has implanted in
us a thirst for justice. Will we act on it?
Today’s
Gospel turns the old world meaning of blessed on its head. In
ancient Greek usage, makarios, which
means blessed, referred to the gods who were beyond all cares,
labours, and even death. The blessed ones were gods who lived in
some other world away from the cares and problems and worries of
ordinary people. In time, makarios
came to refer to the elite, the upper echelons of society, the
wealthy people. It referred to people whose riches and power put them
above the normal cares and problems and worries of the common people,
who constantly struggle and worry and labor in life. To be blessed,
you had to be very rich and powerful. The blessed were those people
and beings who lived above the normal cares, problems, and worries of
normal people.
Matthew
however, reflecting Jesus' thoughts, uses the word makarios/blessed
in a totally different way. It is not the elite who are blessed. It
is not the rich and powerful who are blessed. It is not the high and
mighty who are blessed. It is not the people living in huge mansions
or expensive penthouses who are blessed. Rather, Jesus like his
mother, pronounces God's blessings on the lowly: the poor, the
hungry, the thirsty, the meek, the mourning. Throughout the history
of this word, it had always been the other people who were considered
blessed: the rich, the filled up, the powerful. Jesus turns it all
upside-down. The elite in God's kingdom, the blessed ones in God's
kingdom, are those who seek truth and justice and through their
seeking—and acting—are transformed—no matter how little or how
much they have. So, it isn't about the poor versus the rich.
Rather, today's gospel is about truth, justice and transformation.
Lastly, the beatitudes are not about the rewards for
different groups of good people. They are the characteristics that
each of us should strive to embody. One could say they are the
steps, in no particular order, that can transform us. So in the
gospel sense, blessed is about the ability to hear, heed and live the
gospel message. How will we act on it?
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